Games 10 - 12: Diamond Head Classic, Dec 22nd through Dec 25th

[KAOriginal]

Tom, Lawdog is right in that the final year of Hewitt's deal is, for all practical purposes, meaningless.

JMU let Matt Brady coach out the fifth year of his deal as a lame duck, and while it paid off in a trip to the NCAA tournament, even their dumbass fans acknowledge that it crippled Brady's ability to recruit in a year when he needed to fill five scholarships.

I will say that from what I heard.....JMU was more worried about issues with their football program than dealing with Brady at that point in time. It was a better financial decision to let the 5th year play out than worry about firing early and eating his contract. Seriously...did it matter if a few recruits were lost? Not really for their program....

Since hoops is our "prime time" sport, I would say Hewitt will be on a much shorter leash. Besides....Im pretty confident that since TOC no longer owns a house in VA.......I would say he is out the door this year. Which brings us a new AD who will probably want to start over and eat the 5th year.

The issue I see is "overpaying" paying for the results that he will most likely provide for the next two years. If he was making $500k or less....then by all means his tenure would probably be acceptable for being somewhat competitive and having a clean program. But the fact he will most likely show no progress for the salary....looks pretty bad.

 

[Leesburg Chankenstank III]

Which brings us a new AD who will probably want to start over....

Don't play with my emotions, KA. Please tell me this is more than just message board speculation.

 

[gmutom]

So the only sensible move is to either extend Hewitt after next year or let him go and eat the final year of his contract.

Makes sense. Glad I don't have to make that decision.

 

[KAOriginal]

Don't play with my emotions, KA. Please tell me this is more than just message board speculation.

I have nothing other than speculating based on the events that have taken place and timing.

 

[MasonFanatic]

If you do extend Hewitt, it has to be with the willingness to eat that entire extension if Year 5 is a disaster. So maybe 2 years, and trade him a higher base salary for a lower buyout.

 

[gmujim92]

If you do extend Hewitt, it has to be with the willingness to eat that entire extension if Year 5 is a disaster. So maybe 2 years, and trade him a higher base salary for a lower buyout.

I agree with this. It's far more reasonable than firing him after this season, when he still has a roster in transition, and eating the final 2 years on his current deal.

It would probably still cost us just as much, but at least then we'd have given Hewitt a fair chance to show what he can do. If he can't get us to the NCAAs at least once in five years, I wouldn't feel even the slightest regret sending him on his way.

 

[JimP]

With GMU's lousy play of late, it got me thinking "How the hell did we play so well against a team like NM last year?" Arledge only played 5 minutes and maybe contributed a bucket, so I figured it was a fair question to ask given that the personnel is basically the same.

I was surprised to see that JW went for 12 & 8. Sherrod finished with 22 and Holloway played great offensively, scoring 11 in just 15 minutes. Anali & Copes both started and didn't do much. VV did eat up some minutes in that game, but I think he only scored 6. I'm sure his D was a help though. We outrebounded NM by 5.

Maybe the team should go back and watch that game. JW seems like a good guy, it's tough to see him putting up many 12/8 games the rest of the way though. I'm still kind of baffled about why we played so well that day. Sure like to see them replicate that type of effort again, the more the better.

When I first saw the large gap of time between games in December I thought it was awful. The way the season has gone, it's probably the best thing for them though. They've gotta hit the reset button. Just thought I'd add that too.

 

[Pablo]

With GMU's lousy play of late, it got me thinking "How the hell did we play so well against a team like NM last year?"

I assume that you are referring to all but the last 11 seconds of the game, when New Mexico went on a 6-0 run and won 70-69.

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Wow, a reasonable discussion of Hewitt/players for once? I like it. There's no doubt Hewitt isn't getting the most out of this team. However, it is also clear this bunch that L (mostly) brought in has definite limitations as well, starting with the assist (and PG) angle.

We have the talent to play with Iowa St, certainly. The gaps between the Top 25 and the "have nots" are nothing like they were. Of course Hoiberg motivates his team toa level almostly nightly this bunch gets to maybe twice a year, if that.

Another 5-2 stretch post-Rhodey is pretty much out, but if we can somehow get two in Hawaii and beat Penn and ODU, the OOC record is at least semi-respectable. But not good enough for anything close to NIT/NCAA worthy unless we beat Iowa St.

Looks like an NCAA/NIT bid boils down to an amazing first place finish in the A-10 or a tourney win. Which is possible if all teams except for Rhode Island are somehow disqualified.

 

[GSII]

Who would replace TOC? from within or is there a basketball guy out there?

 

[CHRISTOPHER JAMES JOLLAY]

Who would replace TOC? from within or is there a basketball guy out there?

Kevin McNamee I would hope.

 

[JimP]

I assume that you are referring to all but the last 11 seconds of the game, when New Mexico went on a 6-0 run and won 70-69.

Yep, that was even more painful to me than the SFla game. 39 minutes and 49 seconds of good play compared to 28 minutes.

 

[KAOriginal]

If TOC was a real AD he would have canceled the trip as a punishment to the team and coaches for the sh*tty play they have demonstrated.

 

[Pablo]

If TOC was a real AD he would have canceled the trip as a punishment to the team and coaches for the sh*tty play they have demonstrated.

Obviously, TOC is a real AD who understands the importance of this trip.

 

[Five Two]

Who would replace TOC? from within or is there a basketball guy out there?

When the time comes, go outside and get a fresh perspective. Find an Assoc AD at Villanova, Marquette, Georgetown or other top basketball-only schools to come in.

 

[Pablo]

When the time comes, go outside and get a fresh perspective. Find an Assoc AD at Villanova, Marquette, Georgetown or other top basketball-only schools to come in.

Why wouldn't you consider administrators at schools with football? BTW, Villanova and Georgetown have football.

 

[GMUgemini]

Why wouldn't you consider administrators at schools with football? BTW, Villanova and Georgetown have football.

Absolutely. Not sure why you would disqualify a candidate because their school happens to have football.

I will say, I would prefer someone who has experience working in an athletic department without a large, built-in donor base. Because whoever comes in here will have to have some fresh ideas on how to get a "mostly" apathetic community involved more.

 

[GMUSSTN]

Absolutely. Not sure why you would disqualify a candidate because their school happens to have football.

I'd like to see someone at least from a school that stresses basketball over football, though. Or at least one that has elite programs in both and has hired/fired basketball coaches recently and still maintained success.

I'm not opposed to a guy who wants to bring in a football team, but unless we can get our basketball program up to snuff we'll just wind up sucking at both.

 

[GMUgemini]

I'd like to see someone at least from a school that stresses basketball over football, though. Or at least one that has elite programs in both and has hired/fired basketball coaches recently and still maintained success.

I'm not opposed to a guy who wants to bring in a football team, but unless we can get our basketball program up to snuff we'll just wind up sucking at both.

I don't care if he's pro or anti-football. I just want an AD who has energy, good ideas, and a desire to grow the overall program we do have and our community's engagement (from students, from alums, from those who live in Fairfax and the local business community) the with Mason athletics.

 

[gmubrian]

Kevin McNamee I would hope.

It seems to me that most agree that the AD needs to be someone who networks so they can be a fund raiser. Kevin doesn't strike me as that given that since in all the years I have been hanging around Mason basketball, I have never once met him in person.

If we stayed internal, I would vote for Adam Brick